Bright Side of the Dark One
by CornuCopiaSGR
Summary: "If I realize it sooner, you won't be in so much pain, will you?" [ LunarEclipse ] [ Darkrai/Cresselia ]


A/N : I can finally pull off another idea! This has been sickeningly swirling through my head the whole week, so I just try to give it a damn and write it down. Tbh I was expecting it to be about 1k++ words, but something makes it expand more and more, and I guess my 'spirit-of-writer' ( or so they said ) has finally come back xD

 **WARNING : this is a piece of cheesy, peachy, crappy, and confusing one. Take your own risk xD**

 _And_ don't forget : reviews are deeply appreciated xD

On the story!

* * *

"Darkrai?"

"Darkrai, I know you're there. Can you please come out?"

A resonating sigh could be heard from the cave. Surely, the dark type would have made it clear enough that he wasn't in his mood for some talks. But Darkrai – the being in question – knew well that Cresselia wasn't a type to easily give up. And he didn't want to make her standing- or, flying – out there until the sun had decided to show out. So, he made his way out, floating toward the opening of the cave until he saw her, magnificent lunar swan. It wouldn't be exaggerating if the moon weren't made it so clear that she was glowing in luminous light.

"What is it, Cresselia?" he calmly asked. 'Calm and composed' had always been his trademark among all the Legendaries, and a call in the midnight under the moon wouldn't change it anyway. On the opposite, romantic and caring weren't exactly him at all. He supposed that knowing the fact, Cresselia wouldn't be up to some sort of what humans called as a date.

" _And why am I bothering thinking about it anyway,"_ he restrained himself from letting out a snarl of annoyance. Perhaps having to _forcibly_ get up from sleep in late midnight had something with it.

"I need to talk to you," she said, her eyes looking directly at glowing orbs had determination, and Darkrai had to fight another urge to show hostility toward her ( perhaps if she could pick a better time, he wouldn't mind it ). After all, she _was_ his counterpart.

"Very well," he finally said in a very composed manner. "Where should it be?"

Instead of rolling his eyes and giving vicious remarks as she expected, he was far more civilized. It surprised her that she didn't even answer the said question.

"Cresselia?"

"Oh umm," she began nervously, flustered from the fact that she had been taken off guard from his unexpected reply.

"Over here," she gestured with swing of her face as she led the way, Darkrai following slightly behind.

* * *

"Darkrai, I was always wondering…" she said, breaking the bubble of silence. They were on the New Moon Island's beach, with her and Darkrai rested under a tree. The sound of waving seas and rustling leaves behind them accompanied their late-night talk.

"And what is it, exactly?" Darkrai asked. Due to her sudden silence, which he assumed that she was thinking for her words – or maybe what she wanted to ask – he heaved a sigh.

"It's nothing related with my duty, right?"

Cresselia flinched.

 _And I know I hit the right spot,_ he thought.

"Look," he began, clearing his throat. "It's not like I'm being sensitive with people objecting my duty. If an answer will make it clear, so be it. So Cresselia, I am going to make sort of example. Will you proceed?"

"Cut the formality, Darkrai. It doesn't fit you well," she retorted, almost flinching of how she was so hostile toward him. But she didn't like it to hear such civilized talk – one which was rather more suitable to be used in front of Arceus – from her counterpart, late alone to her.

"Assuming from your answer, you don't even know me well enough," the Pitch-Black Pokemon chirped back, hint of annoyance in his remark.

While in fact he _did_ make a point, Cresselia suddenly had the feel of _guilty_ swelling her gut. She looked down to the sand landscapes, avoiding his gaze. He was right, after all. She rarely talked to him like this one, and despite the fact that _everyone_ was supposed to use such formality in the Hall of Origins – where she had been seeing the way Darkrai talked and acknowledging his model of conversations - she didn't expect that Darkrai was _also_ that person in real.

"Well, back to the topic," Darkrai suddenly said, interrupting her thought. "As I said, I'm going to make an example. See, assume there is a guy who had just…" he stopped mid-track, thinking of tolerable euphemism for both. "… done what they call as sins, whatever it is,"

Cresselia didn't move a bit. She listened to his explanation.

"So, let's get straight to a point. What do you think this 'bad guy' deserves, Cresselia?" he asked, giving a sideway glance, signaling her to answer.

"Deserve in what terms?" she asked back.

"In our terms," he replied nonchalantly, as if it was just a common thing they had always been talking, where, in fact, it _was_ what they had always been talking about. "Will it be a dream, or a nightmare?"

She began to think, her eyes wandering to the gloomy sky. Although she still had no idea what he was inquiring, she answered.

"Well… if he had done crimes, then perhaps nightmares would haunt him over,"

Darkrai chuckled slightly.

"See? That's quite a rhetorical question, isn't it?" he quipped as he floated over in front of her.

"Let's make this quick then. Do you think this guy deserves good and nice dreams as well?" he crossed his arms, waiting for another answer. He knew already what Cresselia was going to answer, but he wanted to see his assumption in real.

"Of course. Everyone deserves good dreams," Cresselia started to get itchy with Darkrai's questions. It was all nonsense after all ; why did he keep asking such thing? Wasn't it obvious that every humans and Pokemon deserve good dreams?

"Then let us see it in opposite way. Do you think good guys deserve a nightmare? Do you think we, Legendaries, those who do benevolences, deserve a nightmare? " the question seemed to be a simple one, but Cresselia had to think twice – no, multiple times – for the answer.

"Well... why should they-" and then she trailed off.

It finally hit her hard as brick.

It finally occurred to her what Darkrai was implying. Just because people had made good deeds didn't mean they would always have good dreams. And as the opposite, people who had committed sins didn't mean that they would always be haunted by nightmares, either. It was the balance.

"Nightmares aren't sort of punishments, Cresselia. Everyone makes mistakes. _Everyone,"_ he emphasized. Letting a cough of discomfort, he continued. "Those mistakes, be them as failures or losses, will always be there inside their mind and heart. It appears sometimes as nightmares, not to haunt them, but enough to remind them that they had made a mistake like that, and also as a reminder not to do it again," a smile crossed his countenance upon seeing his counterpart's face gleamed with acknowledgement.

"But… don't you think it's horrible to see them in terror while all they want in their sleeps is a nice dream?" Cresselia murmured, loud enough for Darkrai to recognize.

"And do you honestly think I am happy to see them agonized? No, Cresselia. _No_ ," he let out a sigh, which she could clearly tell it happened to be a sigh of exhaustion. ' _Was he tired with his own duty?_ ' she thought.

"Everyone sees me as an abomination, and I don't blame them because no one loves nightmares. However, don't they see that what gives them courage is what fears them the most? If they have nothing to fear, _nothing to worry_ , then they don't even need courage. And if they don't have courage to fight what they fear, they will just be left powerless. Because what makes them strong and grow stronger is to fight their own weaknesses, and in this case, their fears,"

The philosophical view of nightmare coming from the one who spread nightmare itself had made Cresselia left entirely speechless. She could feel sorrow and utter pains in his words, aware of his own insecurities and even _fears_. And to think about it, Darkrai in the world was hated because he gave nightmares, while on the other side, she herself was being praised as goddess who was kind to repel nightmares and instead giving them nice dreams.

It was unfair. She realized it.

Because she finally understood that dreams and nightmares came in one pack. There shouldn't be only nice and good dreams, there should be nightmares accompanying them. And as far as she saw humans' view of sleep as place to run from their reality, hoping to see better world in their dreams, she also had to agree that Darkrai was right. In Darkrai's example case, a bad guy would indeed be haunted by nightmares, of what sins he had done, of his past, of his regrets. But dreams came to support him that he had better future, reminding him to move on, telling him that he didn't live in the past. The same thing happened with the good guys. They would see nightmares of their past, their regrets, what would happen if they took a wrong path, what would happen if desires took them, and so on. But dreams gave them sight of better way of life, what they should achieve, what their good deeds had affected their whole life, and much more.

Darkrai was right. And she was so oblivious of the fact that dreams and nightmares were linked, inseparable and live on each other.

She unconsciously nodded from her own thought, unaware of Darkrai who had been carefully studying her features. As the maroon eyes opened, revealing eyes filled with realization of revelations he had thrown, Cresselia sighed for unknown reason. She glanced toward her counterpart ; Darkrai, one who had suffered for millennia of seeing nightmares people had gone through. One who, _perhaps_ , had suffered because his counterpart didn't even understand him, not in slightest.

She frowned as she threw her look away, unable to look at the very being in front of him. She should feel ashamed, and yes, that was what she felt as the realization made a place in her heart. She should have known better, but she didn't.

With another frown, she lifted her gaze, meeting up with the pair of calming cyan eyes. Somehow, she found out that the colors of his eyes were made up more soothing than the seas.

"Cresselia?"

"Oh um, yeah?" she blinked a few times.

"You _were_ staring," he pointed out.

She swore she heard a bit trembling in his voice, but nevertheless, she didn't inquire it further due to her own embarrassment. She flinched, but she finally glanced back to him.

"Darkrai…" she began. _Do not stutter, do not stutter_ , she kept telling herself.

Darkrai watched her in interest. Cresselia had never been this nervous, he knew it.

"Yes?" he answered, calm and quiet. An awkward silence roused up, Cresselia thinking hard while gazing down, Darkrai silently watching her over and over. Something pulled him over that he went closer to his counterpart. The said counterpart was unaware with the proximity of him, so he assumed that she had sank in another waves of thoughts.

"Look up," he whispered softly. The tender voice sent chill down her spine, and she bolted up just a little bit before suddenly realizing that he was already right beside her, no longer in front of her. For known reason she flushed scarlet before glancing to him. He looked so calm, serene, and if she had set eyes on him for the whole time, she might as well have assumed that he was indeed _cool_. She noticed that he was looking up to the sky, and remembering his words before, she followed his gaze up to the sky

Colors of dark purple painted her peripheral view, with hundreds flicker of dazzling stars accompanying the murky sky. The lucent moon gleamed upon them, seemed to notice that they were staring at it. No wonder, the moon shone through the Full Moon and New Moon Islands, and of course, to the Lunar Duo.

 _How cliché,_ she smiled.

She didn't know why, but something told him to take a look at him. When she did so, he was doing the same thing.

Their eyes locked, and for the first time in her life, she saw the actual gleam of genuine happiness in his eyes.

"Darkrai?" she called. This time, she didn't avert her gaze.

The being in question remained silent, so she took it as a sign to continue.

The lunar swan let out a sigh as she grimaced.

"I'm sorry,"

That, had taken Darkrai off guard, as he floated backward a bit.

"Sorry? For what, Cresselia?" he managed to regain his composure back as he floated closer.

"Well… I'm sorry, for not being a…" she swallowed. She had to admit, it was far easier to talk to Latias than to Darkrai.

"… a nice counterpart for you," she finished, but then she added. "I mean, see other Legendaries. They get along all the way, and even Groudon and Kyogre has chemistry between them," she frowned. She never wanted to compare her and Darkrai with others, but truth to be told, she felt guilty for him.

"I… I didn't know what to say, but, after this night, I promise I-

"Cress," the Pitch-Black Pokemon interrupted. "That's enough,"

"But I-" a finger placed at her lips, a rather proper gesture to tell her to _shut the hell up_. Dakrai almost laughed at the thought, but he just smiled.

"Don't be, Cress. I should be the one," he removed his finger from her, and when she opened her mouth to make another remark, he repeated the same process. Perhaps it _did_ frustrate her, but he knew he was in the right position to explain.

"I have never opened up to everyone, well, perhaps Giratina is the exception," out of all Legendaries, Giratina seemed to understand him better, because both of them had the same way of perceptions and point of views.

Something flared up inside her, and she hoped _it wasn't jealousy_. But she kept quiet.

"… I was such a coward. I kept running away from the reality. Whenever you mock me, you _scold_ me…," at this, both flinched at his 'not-so-good' choice of words, but he continued. "I always think that you hated me-"

"No I didn't," she somehow managed to remove his 'shut-up-gesture' as she flew toward him, the distance between them slowly diminished.

"I never do, Darkrai, I never do," she repeated, enough to tell him the truth the she _didn't._

"And you know what's funny? This night I start to notice this and that of you, of your feelings, of your perceptions, of your point of views," the lunar swan grimaced a bit before continuing.

"If I realize it sooner, you won't be in so much pain, will you?"

He had no idea why, but he winced as he heard the question. He had never felt surge of warmth that he didn't know where it came from, nor did he feel such affection held by a simple question. But one thing that he was asking ; what did that 'it' stand for?

"Both," she said, and when he looked at her, she had that wry smirk on her face. Noticing the look of surprised on his face – which she found rather cute – she continued.

"Oh, don't be that surprised, Darky. That's the benefit of being a Psychic-type," while that smirk was still on her countenance, she made a mental note to pester him in such way. It would certainly be fun.

"S-Shut up," and for the first time in her life, _again_ , she heard Darkrai, the being of nightmares, stutter.

And this day wouldn't be much funnier.

For the sake of her counterpart's dignity, though, she restrained herself from laughing her ass off. Furthermore, she still hadn't made her own revelation as well.

As both had once more sank in their respective mind, Darkrai began to think again, although he might regret it because he understood now the law of having a conversation with a Psychic-type ; you think, you talk.

But now he could care less. At least it would be much easier for him to say what he wanted to say.

 _If I realize it sooner, you won't be in so much pain, will you?_

What did she realize, anyway? The importance of nightmares? Or perhaps-

"You don't have to think further about it, Darkrai," the Psychic-type made another interruption, and he growled in response.

"I think everyone has the rights to think," he retorted, but the hostility didn't affect her. Instead, she rolled her eyes.

"Geez, don't be such a kid," Cresselia giggled softly. The soft voice thrilled his heart somehow, and he felt another rush of heat to his cheeks.

"Why, thank you for _noticing_ I'm such a kid," he knew he shouldn't say it because once it was said, his counterpart flinched.

"Well, I didn't mean that…" he trailed off, but upon seeing her shaking her head in the way of saying 'don't sweat it', he felt his lips curved into another smile. A genuine smile.

Another awkward silence happened, but this time he cut it off. He floated toward her, and she stayed quiet, seemingly anticipating his approaching. One hand reaching out, but he retracted it quickly.

"… well?" Cresselia questioned.

"I think you have something to say," he smirked, and his counterpart frowned.

"I should be the Psychic one here…" he heard her murmuring, and it widened his smirk.

"Nah, everyone can be a Psychic," the Pitch-Black Pokemon remarked, earning a playful glare from her.

"Well…" she started. When he said that she had something to say, it was indeed correct. But she thought he had already known what she was going to say, _again._

"Forgive me. For all of my obliviousness," she finally said.

Without thinking, he pulled her into an embrace.

"Forgiven," he whispered softly, sending chill down her spine. Neither of them moved afterward. They remained still, enjoying the proximity between them. The warmth provided from the motion had given both of them the feeling of inseparable.

Likewise, dreams and nightmares.

Oh, how _ironic_.

But eventually, although reluctantly, he let her go. As he floated slightly backward, their eyes locked again.

But this time, neither were going to break it.

"I have been such a coward," Darkrai heard his voice. "If I realize it sooner, you won't be in so much pain, will you? Pain of loneliness, of seeing other Legendaries's proximities with their counterpart," he unconsciously brushed her cheeks with his right paw, feeling the tenderness and the obvious heat emanated from the touch. He would have smirked if the condition hadn't been this one.

"Forgive me," he whispered.

"Forgiven," she replied.

And neither moved again.

* * *

' _Calm and composed' had always been his trademark among all the Legendaries_

He wasn't exactly 'composed'. His mind was in battle with his heart now.

 _Romantic and caring weren't exactly him at all_

This night had changed it. He knew it had.

 _And a call in the midnight under the moon wouldn't change it anyway._

It did change. Because of her.

 _I have never opened up to everyone_

You made me do it. And I felt relieved that you came to an understanding.

 _I kept running away from reality_

And I had stopped running this night. I turned around to face it.

 _If I realize it sooner, you won't be in so much pain, will you? Forgive me_

Forgiven

* * *

And the next thing he knew, he had pulled her into another embrace, perhaps much tighter that she actually squirmed in his arms. But then she calmed down, and she rested her head on his shoulder.

* * *

 _Knowing the fact, Cresselia wouldn't be up to some sort of what humans called as a date._

One, Cresselia had changed the _fact_. Two, we could make it some sort of

* * *

"You know, I'm glad you have awoken me from my slumber tonight," Darkrai said, a smile crossing his countenance.

"And why should it be?" she asked as she smiled back. He now realized that all of the time, he had this beautiful counterpart and he let her down many times. _Pity myself_ , he thought. Nevertheless, he resumed his previous line.

"The being of dreams has awoken me from my dream, and perhaps…" he smirked smugly. "She has actually granted my dreams to become reality," upon saying this, he laughed heartily when he saw her face red as cherry.

"W-whatever," she managed to reply, but then she sighed in relief as she took a glance to the sky from his arms.

Then suddenly a hand was placed under her chin, and she was forced to meet his eyes again.

"What now?" she glared, hoping that she could intimidate him but she failed miserably because apparently the streak of red scarlet hadn't disappeared yet from her cheeks.

She wanted to scream, she wanted to smack him – if she were granted with arms and palms – but she rendered powerless here in his arms. She didn't know why she wanted to do so, but it seemed like seeing him smiling and being nice all the way was way too much for her to handle. She couldn't tell if something could make it worse.

And she was wrong.

Just when she thought about it, a confession was made.

"I love you,"

And she stuck there, remained even powerless, and now with the addition of speechless. Tons of feelings spread thorough her body and veins, and nothing could feel better.

The lunar swan sighed again, but then she fixated her gaze to his eyes.

Cyan was now her favorite colors, replacing pink one.

"Love you too,"

* * *

Thanks for EyeofAmethyst07 for pointing out some mistakes I made! I believe there are more, hell, so once again, reviews are appreciated ! xD


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